Triumph: Life after the Cult - a Survivor's Lessons

The author of The New York Times bestseller Escape returns with a moving and inspirational tale of her life after she heroically fled the cult she’d been raised in, her hard-won new identity and happiness, and her determination to win justice for the crimes committed against her family.

Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens Rebecca Musser became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family.

Church of Lies

"My name is Flora Jessop. I've been called apostate, vigilante, and crazy bitch, and maybe I am. But some people call me a hero, and I'd like to think they're right too. If I am a hero, maybe it's because every time I can play a part in saving a child or a woman from a life of servitude and degradation, I'm saving a little piece of me, too. was one of twenty-eight children born to my dad and his three wives."

Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs

In September 2007, Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age 14. This harrowing account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of this closed community and the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women. Now, in this courageous memoir, Wall tells the incredible story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice.

Lost Boy

In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives, but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brent Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet's compound and the harsh exile existence that so many boys face once they have been expelled by the sect.

Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints

Despite considerable press coverage and a lengthy trial, the full story of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints has remained largely untold. Only one man can reveal the whole, astounding truth: Sam Brower, the private investigator who devoted years of his life to breaking open the secret practices of the FLDS and bringing Warren Jeffs and his inner circle to justice.

Jenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares her true story of life inside the upper ranks of the sect, details her experiences as a member Sea Org - the church's highest ministry - speaks of her "disconnection" from family outside of the organization, and tells the story of her ultimate escape.

Banished: Surviving My Years in the Westboro Baptist Church

You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later.

The Polygamist’s Daughter: A Memoir

"My father had more than 50 children." So begins the haunting memoir of Anna LeBaron, daughter of the notorious polygamist and murderer Ervil LeBaron. With her father wanted by the FBI for killing anyone who tried to leave his cult - a radical branch of Mormonism - Anna and her siblings were constantly on the run with the other sister-wives. Often starving and always desperate, the children lived in terror. Even though there were dozens of them together, Anna always felt alone.

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife

Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law, Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's six brothers, one sister, and numerous wives and children.

My Story

On June 5, 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic, Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology

The outspoken actress, talk show host, and reality television star offers up a no-holds-barred memoir, including an eye-opening insider account of her tumultuous and heart-wrenching 30-year-plus association with the Church of Scientology.

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement

In Cult Insanity, Spencer reveals the outrageous behavior of her brother-in-law Ervil---a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he was called to set the house of God in order---and how he terrorized their colony. Claiming to be God's avenger and to have a license to kill in the name of God, Ervil ordered the murders of friends and family members, eliminating all those who challenged his authority. Cult Insanity is a riveting, terrifying memoir of polygamist life under the tyranny of a madman.

On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry made headlines around the world when she fled a Cleveland area home and called 911, saying: "Help me, I'm Amanda Berry.... I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years." A horrifying story rapidly unfolded. Ariel Castro, a local school bus driver, had separately lured Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight to his home, where he kept them chained in the basement. In the decade that followed, the three were raped, psychologically abused, and threatened with death.

The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology Tried to Destroy Paulette Cooper

In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life and drove her to the brink of suicide. The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

At the core of this book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism.

Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me

The only book to examine the origins of Scientology's current leader, Ruthless tells the revealing story of David Miscavige's childhood and his path to the head seat of the Church of Scientology, told through the eyes of his father. Ron Miscavige's personal, heartfelt story is a riveting insider's look at life within the world of Scientology.

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

"In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation. On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I dont think of myself as a victim. I survived...."

Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed

Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world.

Secrets and Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy

What do we really know about modern practicing polygamists - not fictional ones like the Henrickson family on HBO’s Big Love? We’ve seen the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the news, the underage brides in pioneer dresses on a Texas ranch. But the FLDS is just one of many groups that have broken with mainstream Mormonism to follow those parts of Joseph Smith’s doctrine disavowed by the LDS Church. Gaining unprecedented access to these communities, journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya reveals a shadow country....

The Girl Who Escaped ISIS: This Is My Story

In the early summer of 2014, Farida Khalaf was a typical Yazidi teenager living with her parents and three brothers in her village in the mountains of Northern Iraq. In one horrific day, she lost everything: ISIS invaded her village, destroyed her family, and sold her into sexual slavery. The Girl Who Escaped ISIS is her incredible account of captivity and describes how she defied the odds and escaped a life of torture in order to share her story with the world.

Buried Memories: Katie Beers' Story

In 1992, nine-year-old Katie Beers was kidnapped by a family friend and locked in an underground box for 17 days. Katie has now come forward to tell the story that created a national media storm as reporters uncovered the truth about her prekidnapping life of neglect and sexual abuse and the details of her rescue. She shares how this experience and the recent death of her kidnapper, John Esposito, has affected her life.

The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir

Ruth Wariner was the 39th of her father's 42 children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can ascend to heaven only by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible.

Fair Game: The Incredible Untold Story of Scientology in Australia

From Rugby League players trying to improve their game, to Hollywood superstars and the depressed sons of media moguls, Scientology has recruited its share of famous Australians. Less known is that Australia was the first place to ban Scientology, or that Scientology spies helped expose the Chelmsford Deep Sleep Scandal. Numerous Australians have held senior posts in the organisation, only to fall foul of the top brass and lose their families as a result.

Publisher's Summary

When she was 18 years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger - a man 32 years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church. Over the next 15 years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband's psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives, who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy.

Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. But in 2003 Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children.

Escape exposes a world that is tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics. Against this background, Carolyn Jessop's flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. She became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. And in 2006 her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of its notorious leader, Warren Jeffs.

What the Critics Say

"The story Carolyn Jessop tells is so weird and shocking that one hesitates to believe a sect like this, with 10,000 polygamous followers, could really exist in 21st-century America. But Jessop's courageous, heart-wrenching account is absolutely factual. This riveting book reminds us that truth can indeed be much, much stranger than fiction." (Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air and Into the Wild)

This book tells the tale of a FLDS woman who lives her life in the polygamist sect located in Colorado City and thankfully escapes to a better life with her children. You may know this group from the recent news concerning the arrest and conviction of their leader, Warren Jeffs. Carolyn's story leads you from one harrowing, distasteful, unbeliveable tale (which are true!) that you can not stop listening to. I listened to this non stop - so much so that it drove my family crazy b/c I had my headphones on constantly. Not since the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls has a book based on reality made me cringe, angry and proud of the author/victim of the story. Worthwhile read and a lot of background to so many of those news reports we've all seen in the last year or so.

If you are at all curious about the polygamist lifestyle - at least the most extremely negative version of it - then this book will answer your questions. The matter-of-fact delivery of the narrator seems to fit well with the stoic style of writer - I could see how an overly emotional rendition might have worn on my patience after awhile. However, I have to say that it could've been several hours shorter without losing much of the story, and at least some emotion would have been nice. I sympathize greatly with the plight of this woman and the tough choices she had to make to survive - she is a true survivor and someone to be admired for her courage and willingness to share her story.

This is the story of a woman born into a fundamentalist cult. Her story of abuse and oppression is told with meticulous detail and stunning revelation. And the courage, perseverance and just sheer mettle that leaving the cult required was well documented. It's easy to say, "just leave" but for this woman, with eight children and limited resources, one child with serious medical issues, facing two impossible alternatives must have been daunting. Especially the entry into the civilized world as we know it, coming from such a sheltered and controlled environment. Sometimes I found myself thinking prison inmates have more freedom than this woman and her "sister wives" had.

It is truly amazing to read about the lengths to which a group can go to control women, all in the name of spirituality. Of course, such a program of control and abuse has nothing whatever to do with true spirituality.

I knew what to expect from this story before reading, as elements of the various incidents had been on the news in the not too distant past and I believe the author was interviewed on one of the TV network talk shows.

I do wish more care had been taken in editing and/or in the selection of a co-author. Although the story practically writes itself, I thought there was too much of what I call "generic" writing, involving the use or overuse of the same phrase, as in, dining out for a festive "date night" being repeatedly referred to as "going out for a steak dinner". While I know that even with many vegetarians and vegans around, there will always be people who love steak, but to hear it repeatedly, and used as "code" for a nice evening out signified to me a lack of imagination. Of course, such a term could be an authentic indication of the limited background and spartan lifestyle of the narrator.

All in all, though, a very good read. Makes one appreciate an independent lifestyle all the more.

This was one of the few times I wished I had an abridged version of an audiobook. Ms. Jessop's story is fascinating, but gets bogged down by mediocre writing and endless repetition. Making it worse is the narrator, who speaks verrrry slooowly; I ended up listening to it on double speed, which made it more bearable during a long drive. In sum, it's definitely a story worth hearing, but I'd recommend waiting for an abridged audiobook or buying the print version so you can skim the redundant bits.

This story touched me in so many ways. It is hard to believe that she was capable of making such a huge decision. It is also amazing that she survived any court system at all. Fabulous acceptance to change.

OK, first off, I am LDS so I know the beginning history of the FLDS church when they were excommunicated and split from the founding LDS church. I thought I knew pretty much what the FLDS church believed in today as I see their members almost every day in my area. However, I was so completely wrong! It is absolutely amazing how far they have strayed from their original doctrine and have become a church of bigots and people that seek to destroy each other. Even though they believe that they believe in the Savior's teachings, they have completely turned away from His teachings and have become a Nazi-like society. This book is shocking and a real eye-opener! What these people has digressed into is horrifying to say the very least.

First of all I'll state that I'm mainstream Mormon. I grew up in northern Arizona and in Utah Valley. I knew that various polygamous existed but had never spoken with anyone who practiced polygamy. Due to the Texas raid I decided it was time to try and understand a little more about who they were

I have to admit I never knew how bad it was. I was raised by very loving parents in a large family (13 kids) so I can relate to them a little about living in a large family. I was shocked and felt horrible that such things were going on so close and nothing was being done. I have read many books about the Muslim world and other cultures and understand how much peer pressure works. Woman in some muslim countries are treated as slaves and property just like the woman in the FLDS cult. It isn't necessarily Islam that is the source of woman being abused it is people perverting religion and using it for power. It happens across many religions and places. Once the tradition gets started it is hard to break free and it perpetuates itself. You can't even really blame most of the men in the FLDS for what they do because they are taught to do it since they were small children. It is all they know. This book really shows how a closed culture can be easily turned into a cult.

I have no idea if the Texas raid will finally break the FLDS rein of terror and brainwashing but I hope it makes a sizable dent. It disgusted me like no other to read the horrors Carolyn went through. No human being should be subjected to that but it happens all the time all over the world. It makes me grateful for the opportunities the US offers to most of its citizens. Carolyn is a brave woman and her story touched me deeply. I have rarely felt so mad at a someone (Merill) before. I can't believe he isn't in jail if his wife and kids are willing to testify to his abuse. I knocked off one star because she kept repeating a few things over and over in the book.

This story is awash with tales that you will find difficult to comprehend. I found myself asking how these events can take place in this century in the United States of America. But they did - and still do. Carolyn Jessop enlightens us all on the frightening results of cults and how the use of fear and violence to control people lives on today. I was captivated by her life story and was pulling for her as she battled more obstacles in her young life than most of us will in our entire lives. Mind control is insidious and totally devastating. But she - somehow - broke free. This book is an important lesson to all of us on how easily people's minds can be manipulated.

I don't know why polygamy fascinates me, but it does. I think because I can't imagine "sharing" my husband or having to live with sister wives. lol.. I'd never given it much thought before the show "sister wives" came to tv, but now I find it so interesting... This book is written by Carolyn Jessop, who grew up in ploygamy and was married off at 18 to a much older man who already had 3 wives and children. She wasn't happy about it in the least, but didn't know any other way of live.. She does an excellent job of describing her feelings, what the relationship was like between her, her husband and her sister wives and why people believe in polygamy. She goes on to describe what happened to their community once Warren Jeffs took over and how woman had/have absolutely NO power or rights.. It's amazing how woman are expected to stay "sweet" and put up with being treated like nothing more than a incubator.. After escaping her 17 year marriage, she then had to deal with how her children felt, how afraid they were of the real world and all the challenges that came with that. For anyone who wonders why woman stay and put up with this kind of situation, you'll totally understand after reading/listening to her story. Very well narrated. I listen while I work (I work from home) and found myself putting in more hours than normal just so I could continue listening to her story.. Fascinating..

Well written and narrated. This is a long listen (over 15 hours) and some of the content is disturbing and difficult to listen to. At times it seems a long hall with depressing content. That being said, it is incredibly informative. I was familar with the organization through the news and felt like I was getting an insiders look through this book. "escape" says it all - so thankful for the exhale ending.